Hard Rolls

A German classic - Brötchen! The secret to very good ones is time and a poolish. My Sunday brötchen I start already on Friday. Very important is a “Poolish”, a pre-ferment - made from just flour and water in a 1:1 ratio, and a tiny bit yeast.

Let’s start….

Poolish:


Yeast, a pinch

Main Dough
All of the Poolish

Friday, morning:
In the morning I mix the poolish/pre-ferment. Just with a spoon or from hand. The 1:1 mix is very easy and fast to mix. I keep it coverred in a warm (but not too hot) place. The poolish should double and will develop a sour smell. Not really pleasant, but it’s correct.

Friday, evening:
I knead all together - but not yeast & salt! Just enough till everything is wet. Then let it rest for one hour. It’s called autolyse. The gluten will start to build already and you don’t have to knead much later. After one hour I knead again, add first the yeast, then the salt - roughly for 5 Minutes.

Next the dough goes to a shallow container where I stretch and fold it every about 20 Minutes for 1.5 to 2 hours. By this time the dough should get a little puffy. When done I put it in a oiled container and the dough goes to the fridge till Sunday.

Sunday:
Directly from the fridge I take the chosen size (for me about 80g) and shape them to a ball. Here I can add poppy seed, oats, sesame or whatever. Next I let them rest for about 40 Minutes. Preheat the oven, then scoring and baking

If the dough sticks to the knife while scoring use 1-2% less water next time. A wet blade helps too.

Baking:
230°C/445°F Top/Bottom - with steam - 8 Minuten
200°C/390°F Top/Bottom - no steam - 8 Minuten

or if you have convection and steam:
245°C/475°F hot air - with steam - 3 Minuten
235°C/455°F hot air - no steam - 11 Minuten

I use the Anova Precision Oven with folowing settings:
Stage 1: 245°C/475°F Rear only - Steam 100% - 3 Minuten
Stage 2: 235°C/455°F Rear only - Steam OFF - 11 Minuten

Ok, this takes 2 days, but the actual work is minimal.